Part of the problem: older voters who have been a classic Dem bloc for decades

[featherman]

are currently polling substantial margins for McCain in every state and national poll I have seen.

Part of this is demographic I suppose as the older New Deal Dems that remembered Roosevelt have died off and been replaced by kids like me (I'm 63) who grew up in the Eisenhower era. It would be very helpful for Obama to narrow his margins in the +65 voting group. (It's a bit puzzling why this group would favor electing a guy who preaches deregulation and throwing their social security fund into what he himself called the "casino" of a stock market but I suspect race, youth, and fear of change have something to do with it).

The consistent Mccain among this group affects the "likely voter" samples as the older voters are the most reliable at the polls and have the longer voting record that the pollsters use for this variable ("Did you vote in the last xxxx elections?).

It goes a long way to explaining the close polling in OH, FL, PA, MI which are among the oldest populations in the country. And makes voter registration and GOTV efforts imperative for this campaign.

[glowing]

Because they mainly watch the 6:00 and 6:30 news.. its horrible.

They read the local rags, which are horrible. Most are on some heavy meds. AND most trust the old man because they feel he knows better than anyone that they need help.. they just don't realize, even though McCain looks like a rag-muffin, he is wearing $500.00 shoes and he wants their social security to gamble with... I just think they are un-informed and don't trust a young, black man to do a better job? Lord knows why.

[skipos]

1. I reckon some* of these older voters relate to McCain's senility

they also remember the good old days when blacks would stick to the back of the bus.

*I have no idea how many of these people there are, but I know a few.

[grannie4peace]

2. he reached me & i'm 62

[KittyWampus]

3. Do you have the actual statistics to back up your primary assertion?

[Lifetimedem]

4. I wonder where they are sampling?

We are close in age, I work out and swim with senior citizens from 55 to 85 and I have only met two that favor McCain, and they are die hard republicans .

All the old "new deal" dems and whatever blue dogs that are around are OB voters.


That is why Social Security is an important topic for OB...

[Big Blue Marble]

5. As some one in your demographic,

i.e. an Eisenhower kid, I have been surprised at the resistance of the older Dems
to Obama. Sadly, I have concluded that it is mostly racism. A latent racism
but it is racism disguised as uncertainty. They say we cannot trust him; he is too young;
or he does not have enough experience. Yet they voted for Clinton without expressing
these same concerns.

The older you are the more you are likely to be influenced by an unconscious racism
that questions the competency of a person with deeper skin tones regardless of that
person's qualifications. This is the residual effect of the past attitudes towards
people of color. We are being asked break the paradigm and it is often harder for older
folks to make dramatic chances. They tend to be conservative by nature solidifying their
gains. This election is asking a lot of them. I hope for their grandchildren and great
grandchildren they make the leap of faith that is necessary.

[napi21]

6. I hate to say this, but I honestly think race is the problem with the

older voters. Let me prempt my statement by saying I'm a woman, white, 65yo, and am mailing my absentee ballot tomorrow and voting for Obama.

I grew up in Pa. and I don't remember ever meeting a black person until I got my first job. We weren't rich by any stretch, but lived in a little town named Etna and I went to school in Sharpsburg. AFAIK, everybody in both little towns were either German or Italian. Pgh. was a very ethnic city and like people seemed to collect together. We had Polish Hill (mostly Polish), Squirrel Hill (mostly Jewish), Little Italy, and Heron Hill which mu mostly black. We all read & heard horror stories about things that happened "up on Heron Hill. Bad things like stabbings, murders, husbands tossing their wives out a 3rd story window and worse. Blame it on whoever or whatever you wish, it planted fear of black people. I was lucky because I've met people of all races & ethnic backgrounds over the course of my career, but many of the "older people" and especially white women never had that opportunity, and they still harbor that fear. I doubt anyone can change them at this stage of their lives. The only consolation I can think of is that they're getting much older and will soon be gone.

On the bright side, I keep reading about all the new younger voters who've been registered this year. Very few of those hold those old prejudices, and as long as they get off their backsides on Nov. 5th, there will be President Obama!

[SheilaT]

7. Well, I'm 60

which makes me one of those older voters, I suppose, but I've been a Democrat my entire life, and I get more liberal/progressive as I get older.

And a lot of older voters have been influenced in favor of Obama by their 20 something kids.

I'm beginning to wonder if a lot of the polling isn't deliberately skewed to maintain the "horse race" myth. Or, if out of ignorance of the real changes happening in the voting block itself (vast numbers of younger voters suddenly) they are simply assuming the age-related turnout will be the same as always.

[TheDonkey]

8. Older voters went for Bush in 04.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. ????

From what I understand from the census, the fast growing group are the octogenarians. And there are quite a few of the "silent generation", those born during the Depression, still around. These include the Korean War vets and include my 78-yo mother. They haven't all "died off" and they are very much still out there. According the the 2006 census estimates, those aged 70 - 79 make up 5.4% of the population and 60 - 69 are 8%, which isn't that big a difference.

I think part of the problem may be that those out there in the older demographic are just not as "vocal", at least "in public". As my mother has always told me, her generation was raised very strictly to "conform" to "societal expectations" due to the stress of having been born during the Depression and having had to endure WW II as children and teens. However I also note that this generation is also radical, in a non-obvious sense, and I maintain that much of what was permitted to happen during the '60s was by the grace of that generation.

I think that "in between" group born during WW II, are a totally different demographic and have a totally different mindset, having had TV influence them as youngsters. One of my uncles is in that generation (he'll be 65 this year) and he is like day and night from my mother, or her sister, who is 73.

Consider also that the last time someone tried to mess with Social Security, he was summarily forced to kill the idea and bail it out (Reagan), so I still think there will be many in the older demographic voting their pocketbooks.